Congress' Castro hopeful — at least for now

Updated 11:23 pm, Friday, January 4, 2013

As the 20th Congressional District of Texas rocked this week along with the rest of the country on the brink of the fearsome “fiscal cliff,” incoming Rep. Joaquín Castro was just fine, thank you, not to have been sworn into the House quite yet.

“I don't know if there's a single incoming member of Congress who would want to be a member of Congress right now,” Castro said Tuesday night.

His distaste, to put it mildly, resides also in the mouths of many Americans, who can only hope the newly constituted 113th Congress proves more palatable than the departed 112th. Castro, an optimistic sort, certainly does.

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“I'm hopeful that this will be a more measured Congress,” he said, “that it will be a more thoughtful Congress.”

Charlie Gonzalez, who served the San Antonio district as a Democrat for 14 years before consigning it Thursday to Castro, has some advice for the twin brother of San Antonio's mayor: Don't get your hopes up.

“I would just tell him not to be disappointed when he may not meet with a great welcome,” Gonzalez said. “I think people are going to be smarting on the Republican side with what occurred.”

What occurred was passage of legislation that forestalled huge spending cuts and tax increases for most Americans. The deal to avert the fiscal cliff allowed taxes to rise on household income over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples. It also made tax cuts permanent for income below that level.

Both political parties found elements of the deal to dislike, a sign that — horror! — a compromise might've occurred. The dispiriting reality: In two years of refusing to compromise, House Republicans had painted themselves into a political corner, and enough of them realized they'd get tarred for raising taxes for the vast majority of Americans and kneecapping the economy unless they voted yes.

So while Castro can hope a new Congress means less dysfunction, here's another reality: We're in for more brinkmanship and self-inflicted crises.

In the House, the Republican majority held onto most of their 2010 additions, many of whom hold government in contempt. And in another political barometer, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was sworn in Thursday.

The first Hispanic senator from Texas won office by wooing tea party voters in last year's primary. In a conference call with reporters, he made it clear he doesn't plan to temper the rigid ideology that shot him to office.

Calling the fiscal deal a “harmful bill,” Cruz said he would've voted against it. When I asked whether the federal debt limit is an appropriate tool for wresting spending cuts from President Barack Obama, he said yes.

“The debt ceiling is the mirror image of the fiscal cliff,” Cruz said. Negotiations in the latter favored Obama, he said, because “in an era of divided government, the advantage in negotiating is with ... whoever wins if nothing is done.”

By Cruz's stratagem, the GOP would “win” if House Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling next month, causing the nation to default and forcing a partial government shutdown.

“As a result of (the 1995) shutdown, we saw year after year of balanced budget at the federal level,” Cruz said, “and we saw some of the most fiscally responsible federal spending policies this Congress has ever produced.”

Congress, however, must raise the debt ceiling to pass any budget, even the austere sort pushed by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan. Oh, and the government shutdown in the mid-'90s was disastrous.

“God, I just go nuts on this,” Gonzalez said.

But Gonzalez is no longer a congressman. So here's to Castro keeping his hope — and also his head.